Welcome tp the latest episode of Vanakkam Veerappan, brought to you by every journo worth his moustache and even his apprentice but not the law makers and their long (?) arms. Instead, the former are busy working out how best to assist the outlaw in breaking the law while the arms of the law, which were folded all these days, have unfolded only to be raised high in a gesture of surrender.
Surrender? Yer, of course, it has been in the air for quite some time. Only that the orles have reversed. The law has surrendered to the outlaw. As cassettes, couriers and emissaries keep moving in and out of the jungles just like that, the hectic traffic out there makes one wonder if Veerappan has not been all that lonely in the forests all these days.
It is now apparent that Tamil chauvinist movement has been masterminding the whole kidnap drama and there are indications that the brigand may even be enjoying the patronage of some terrorist outfits including a few off-shore ones. The bandit’s political connections have also been bandied about often, primarily by opponent politicos whgo were probably peeved with him for not being included in his payroll,while his deep-rooted affinity with those of the brigand media is now history.
In all, it now turns out that contrary to popular belief, Veerappan appears to have been the most accessible character in that part of the country. An amendment requires to be made in journalistic jargon that still refers to the brigand as elusive. Exclusive would be more appropriate.
Our rational CM has even reasoned that the brigand himself might have become a Tamil extremist. This probably was the new leaf the brigand was busy turning over and he must be quite happy that the news has reached the right person, himself lover of Tamil and Tamil only, though a non-brigand. The CM’s helpful suggestion on Veerappan’s new status is quite significant and, needless to say, dangerous, like everything else about the brigand.
From being a routine wood-cutter and poacher, the brigand promoted him seld to becoming a killer and kidnapper and hhas graduated to being a Tamil militant now. The CM thinks so, and in any case, those screaming headlines in national dailies that hail brig.
V for asking “all for Tamils and nothing for himself’ say it all! Amnesty would now be in order, for the gallows are reserved only for criminals who killed for the heck fo it. Veerappan had been poaching, killing and kidnapping only for a cause all thse days. How wrong we were.
Thanks to Veerappan, Cauvery would be gushing through the Mettut sluices any time now, Thiruvalluvar would be standing tall bang in the middle of Bangalore, a few TADA detenues in TN prisons would wald free even while petty thieves and pickpockets bid them farewell, victims ofCauvery riots would now be well compensated no matter if V’s own victims turn in their graves, the strengh in Karnataka jails will be down by a few Tamils, tea growers would be laughing all the way to bank….. oops, all in one stroke. If only solving the plethora of problems that beset the nation was so easy.
Indeed, the whole episode is the ultimate insult heaped on out Constitution and a matter of supreme shame for its purporyted protectors, who decorate the secretariats and the various government offices. And the credit fo blame for this sordid spectacle goes equally to the bandit and his sponsors and sympathisers in the so called civilised world too.
If a rank killer, kidnapper and a blackmailer rolled into one, has been catapulted to the position of dictating the government’s agenda, there cannot be a greater sin against democracy and propeiety. In inviting the law of the jungle ton prevail and preside over the fate of the State, willingly and without remorse, these rulers have truly abdicatyed andy moral right they had to rule. Why do we need them when we have Veerappan to take care of us?
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